Limited access to equipment probably has a lot more to do with it.
Well yeah, that’s part of the long answer. It’s expensive and takes lots of resources to get around to races, maintain equipment etc and so there’s much less access in less wealthy countries.
But pro cycling is undeniably Euro-centric, and there’s very little investment of energy in developing talent outside Europe. The UCI’s idea of broadening cycling involvement is running some races in China or wealthy oil states. Football finds and develops talent all over the world, cycling doesn’t. Yes budgets are different and the short lifespans of teams likely plays a part, but it’s the culture of the sport too.
Colombia is pretty much the only place that you might consider global south that regularly creates pro cyclists. There are barely any Asian riders even in the pro ranks either despite massive cycling participation across China, Japan, SE Asia. I don’t think anyone can say that if teams went looking they wouldn’t find just as good climbing talent in Indonesia or Vietnam or Kenya or Rwanda as they do in Colombia.
